| From
the November/December 2007 issue of The Horn Book Magazine
Editorial
Mr. Todd
 he
Horn Book lost its most unconditional supporter when Thomas
Todd died on September 9, 2007, at the age of eighty-nine. Mr. Todd
served variously as treasurer, president, printer, and publisher
of The Horn Book, Inc., for fifty years, succeeding his father (also
Thomas Todd) in 1956.
In an interview recorded in
1988 and excerpted on our website, Mr. Todd said that Horn Book
founding editor Bertha Mahony Miller “had her feet firmly
planted in the sky.” I have no doubt that he thought of her
six successors in exactly the same way, and he wouldn’t have
been wrong — it’s no accident that one of our most enduring
company slogans is Paul Hazard’s “give them books, give
them wings.” But the Horn Book’s idealism had
an essential counterweight in Mr. Todd’s practicality and
business sense. While I would occasionally find him engrossed in
a book he had come upon in the office (history or Gary Paulsen,
especially), his personal interest in children’s literature
ended at the bottom of the meticulous ledger he kept on our behalf.
He had faith that our mission — “to blow the horn for
fine books for boys and girls” — was a worthy one, but
left its pursuit to us. From a publisher, as any editor can tell
you, this is a gift.
Not that Mr. Todd made himself scarce. He genially
terrorized several generations of employees and interns with his
impromptu vocabulary quizzes. Mr. Todd had the most aggressive set
of eyebrows ever seen on this earth, but it was also difficult to
miss the genuine — and literal — twinkle in his eye. His
jokes were frequent, dry, and impeccably timed. When we were moving
from our Beacon Hill offices in 1998 and scouting locations in the
neighborhood of Charlestown, he mused nostalgically to me that this
move was going to be like coming home again, as his family used
to live in Charlestown. When I asked when this was, Mr. Todd paused,
twinkled, and said, “1637.”
So while in the larger scheme of things the Horn
Book, founded in 1924, may be a latecomer, we’re very happy
that our fortunes have been tied to the Todd family since our inception.
Thomas Todd was an able steward and a good friend. He will be missed.
From the November/December 2007 issue of
The Horn Book Magazine
Thomas Todd
listen
From a 1988 interview, Thomas Todd talks about his father, Bertha
Mahony Miller, and the editorial he wrote that made an unnamed editor
"hopping mad."
4:11 |
